SCCR Parish Blog

Pope St. Leo the Great (5th Century) is worth studying.  He famously turned back Attila the Hun from invading Rome. Here is his beautiful homily on the meaning of the Christmas mystery from the Breviary (Church's daily prayer book). From a sermon of Saint Leo the Great, pope Christian, remember your dignity Dearly beloved, today our Savior is born; let us rejoice. Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. The fear of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with the promise of eternal happiness.   No one is shut out from this joy; all share the same reason for rejoicing. Our Lord, victor over sin and death, finding no man free from sin, came to free us all. Let the saint rejoice as he sees the palm of victory at hand. Let the sinner be glad as he receives the offer of forgiveness. Let the pagan take courage as he is summoned to life.   In the fullness of time, chosen in the unfathomable depths of God’s wisdom, the Son of God took for himself our common humanity

  On Sunday we celebrated the Feast of  the Holy Family.  Pope St. Paul VI was one of the first moden popes to travel extensively.  He visited Nazareth in the Holy Land in the 1960s and offered this beautiful reflection on the Holy Family (from the Church's breviary prayer book, the Divine Office. om an address given at Nazareth by Pope Paul VI The example of Nazareth The home of Nazareth is the school where we begin to understand the life of Jesus – the school of the Gospel.   The first lesson we learn here is to look, to listen, to meditate and penetrate the meaning – at once so deep and so mysterious – of this very simple, very humble and very beautiful manifestation of the Son of God. Perhaps we learn, even imperceptibly, the lesson of imitation.   Here we learn the method which will permit us to understand who Christ is. Here above all is made clear the importance of taking into account the general picture of his life among us, with its varied background of place, of time, of

  Today is the Feast of the Holy Innocents.  Smack in the middle of the Octave of Christmas (eight straight days of celebrating the great mystery of the Word made flesh and born of the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary), we come to the horrifying Gospel passage where St. Matthew  (2:13-18) recounts that Herod -- in his fearful rage that another king might take his place -- has all of the infant and toddler boys of Bethlehem slaughtered.   It is a powerful reminder that we need   a Savior and Christ was born into a world of cruelty and sin, from which He came to save us.  (There's a beautiful homily by St. Quodvultdeus at the end of this entry from the Church's breviary prayer book).  In her traditional art, the Church doesn't shy away from depicting the cruelty and even brutality of this scene -- because she faces evil square on.  If you internet search "Feast of the Holy Innocents," you will find some haunting images.  But here I've chosen a different art work

  During the Advent season, the Church reflects several times on two great Marian mysteries related to the nativity (birth of Christ). This reflection is from a book by a British housewife who wrote in the 1940s war-time era of Great Britain and is considered a classic about the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The title is The Reed of God .  It is still in print and I recommend the book for Christmas season reading.  (Excerpted from the Magnificat devotional magazine for December 22nd).m  ======= When our Lady went to visit her cousin in the hill country everything seemed to be vibrant with joy; there was little John the Baptist, who very nearly danced into life; there was Elizabeth, dumbfounded with delight; and our Lady herself broke out into a song of sheer joy: My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. He has regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. He that is mighty has done great things to me; and holy is his name.

  Archbishop Schnurr has provided a Christmas message for all the faithful of the Archdiocese in video format.  He is pictured with his assistant, Fr. Williams, and one of our diocesan priests, Fr. Dobroszi, ministering to a women's prison.  A great reminder that all of us are captive to sin without the saving power of Jesus Christ, Who came to us as the Babe of Bethlehem precisely to save us from our sins.  Also, that we are called in love to give Christian hope to all, especially those in difficult circumstances. 

  The Church has a standardized prayer book (the Liturgy of the Hours) that all priests and vowed religious pray daily. It includes many reflections from the Church Fathers and great saints.  As we wrap up the Advent season, and contemplate the role of Mary the Mother of God in our salvation, the reading for December 20th is a powerful reflection on the Annunciation  (excerpted below) by the great 12th century monk St. Bernard of Clairvaux . Also recommended is the reading for December 21st by St. Ambrose , also on the Annunciation.  Worth taking a few minutes out in prayer for this. 

  As we pray for the victims of the recent spate of terrible tornadoes in the Midwest and South, the National Catholic Register has a story symbolizing how, even in the midst of devastation and disaster, the Blessed Virgin Mary is there to intercede for those who need her most. The South Clermont Catholic Region parishes will be taking up a special collection for the tornado victims this 4th Sunday of Advent, December 18th and 19th. 

  As a liturgical reminder, people sometimes get a little confused when Christmas and Sunday are back to back.  This year, Christmas, December 25th, is on a Saturday. What is the Mass obligation?   Except for those with a good reason (poor health, caring for sick family members, etc.) all Catholic are required to attend Mass once each for Christmas and once for Sunday (Holy Family Sunday, December 26th).   That is, the Christmas Eve or Christmas Day Mass do NOT count for the Sunday obligation. Please note that St. Mary and St. Peter Parish will NOT be celebrating the usually scheduled Saturday evening 4:00 p.m. or 5:00 p.m. Mass on Christmas Day (December 25th) or New Years' Day (January 1st).  The full Mass schedule for the South Clermont Catholic Region is available on our parish website calendar  

  Today we remember St. Juan Diego, the humble Mexican farmer from the 16th century who was entrusted the vision of Our Lady at Tepeyac, reassuring all of the Americas that she and her Son would be with us.  You can read his story here . 

  Archbishop Schnurr has finalized the alignment of parishes for next July, as part of the Beacons of Light initiative to adjust the use of our priest personnel and parish resources to meet the needs of the faithful throughout the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.  Our two parishes, St. Mary and St. Peter, will be aligned in a new four-parish region, or “family of parishes (FOP)” including ourselves and St. Bernadette in Amelia and St. Thomas More in Withamsville. Our parish councils and transition planning committees will begin work in January to prepare for this realignment.   The Archdiocese will be providing guidance throughout this process as well.  Before the initial transition happens on July 1, 2022, Archbishop will assign two priests to the new region (FOP): one pastor and one parochial vicar, that is, a priest who is assigned full time to the region to assist the pastor in the celebration of the sacraments and other priestly duties.  This assignment of priests will not likely be f

  As we seek to re-build a truly Catholic culture, I highly recommend the work of one apostolate entitled the Catholic Education Resource Center (CERC). Next Sunday is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  It won't be celebrated liturgically (the Mass of the 2nd Sunday of Advent takes precedence) but we should still turn to Our Lady and remind ourselves of the story of her appearance in the Americas. CERC has an excellent article on the culture of the time, and the progress that the Spanish colonists -- and Our Lady -- made in overcoming the practice of ritual sacrifice that was baked in to the Aztec culture, a scourge that took the life of many tens of thousands of indigenous Americans.  As we seek to overcome the scourge of the destruction of innocent life in the womb in our own time and place, and as Christians across the nation pray for the Supreme Court in the crucially important Dobbs case (which could potentially overturn Roe v. Wade), it is worth pondering the story. Our Lad

  The Holy Father is asking for as many of the baptized as possible to participate in archdiocese-wide meetings taking place in January and February, 2022, to discuss how we can collectively better advance the message of salvation. Please consider participating in one the 12 scheduled meetings. To learn more and to sign up, please visit www.catholicaoc.org/synod . Please also promote this opportunity to your parishioners – see the Bulletin Entries section. Here's some news on the synod from EWTN The nearest meeting on this topic in our current parish region will be held on Sunday afternoon, January 9th, at St. Bernadette in Amelia.  If interested in participating, please contact the parish office.